


Together or Not At All

by AMillionYearsForWhat



Category: Alex Galchenyuk/Brendan Gallagher - Fandom, Hockey - Fandom, Montreal Canadiens - Fandom, NHL - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Comfort/Angst, Cussing, Hockey, Implied Price/Pacioretty, M/M, Mentions of Violence, Montreal Canadiens, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-18
Updated: 2015-10-18
Packaged: 2018-04-26 22:17:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5022646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AMillionYearsForWhat/pseuds/AMillionYearsForWhat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brendan and Alex are in a relationship (still in the closet, still a secret relationship except to families). They're planning on coming out to the world after playoffs. An entire season feels too long to wait, but everything is so perfect with everything that they wouldn't change a single thing for the world. One day, Brendan gets called to a meeting alone and leaves in a rage, dragging Alex with him. Brendan won't tell Alex what's wrong. Things get a little crazy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Together or Not At All

**Author's Note:**

> Few things: Implied Pacioretty/Price. Nothing major, but there's a bit of nonsexual something something.  
> Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher are gay af for each other. TBH, they're goals (Pun intended)  
> BITCH, YOU THOUGHT THERE WAS HOMOPHOBIA. But there isn't. We all love here. 
> 
> My main tumblr is kaitlinthestudent.tumblr.com!  
> My hockey tumblr is tuevoteravainenofficialvevo.tumblr.com!

The smell of eggs and bacon spread throughout the rooms of the Gallagher/Galchenyuk residence, blending with the strong scent of black coffee. Alex's eyes flutter open to the sunrise outside the bedroom window. The clock said 6:54, but he knew better. Brendan always set the clock ten minutes later than it actually was so he wouldn't be late to anything. Alex peeked at the honey-colored sky through the blinds, only then fully realizing he was alone in bed. Footsteps echoed down the hallway and Brendan Gallagher gently kicked open the door, carrying two breakfast platters and smiling ear to ear.  
"You have no idea how much I love you," Alex stared straight-faced at his lover, mouth slightly open from disbelief.  
"You're right," Brendan set down the plates as he crawled on the bed to kiss Alex 'good morning', pulling back with a smirk plastered on his face, "I don't. All I know is that it's not nearly as much as I love you."  
Alex slid his arms up and around Brendan's neck, pulling his lover down on top of him, foreheads touching gently. Gally huffed out a laugh, his spearmint toothpaste lingering between the two.

Alex closed his eyes with sudden realization and inhaled his lover's scent, "We have morning skate, don't we?"  
"8 o'clock. Why else would I make you breakfast?"  
"'Cause you love me, obviously."  
Alex opened his eyes to a smiling Gally. That crooked smirk felt like home to Alex, who took a second to place a small kiss on Brendan's lips. "Let's eat, then."

After breakfast and a quick two-person shower, the Gally's close the door to their home, the crisp air making the boys rush to the car, necessities already in the backseat. Brendan liked to get everything ready the night before; Alex said it reminded him of his mother when he was younger. Brendan shook his head, bottom lip between his teeth, Some people actually listened to their moms, Chucky." 

They had a routine. A deal. Alex would get their stuff and Brendan would go ahead of him and scope out the place, get a general vibe and determine who had bad mornings and who not to chirp. Brendan kisses the corner of Alex's mouth before jogging ahead. Honestly, it takes Chucky a second to move; he’s so confused as to what the hell he did to deserve his boyfriend. He remembers trying to explain his relationship with Brendan to his parents over dinner, the silence that overwhelmed the dinner at first before Anna grabbed his hand when she saw the tears Alex had been fighting back. He knew it would be hard to explain, but how could he expect them to love him? He could only hope they would accept him as the man he is, gay or not.  
"I guess I have a new favorite son, then," Mrs. Galchenyuk grins as she swallows her pasta, "We love you, Alexander. Always will, my son."

A car horn in the distance escorts him back to reality. There really wasn't anything that could be more perfect. Bags in hand, Alex makes his way to the Bell Centre’s doors. Entering the locker room, he notices the locker room is quieter than normal for a morning skate. What is it? What’s missing? P.K.’s dancing to bubblegum pop and trying to force Nathan to call him “Big Poppa”. Normal there, then. Captain Max and Pricey are sitting on a bench, hushed voices laughing back and forth, hands on top of each other on the bench. Normal. ‘Eller, Emelin, Desharnais, Tinordi, Plekanec’, Alex starts going through the roster to see who could be causing the lowered volume of the locker room. Then he feels stupid.  
“Hey, you know where Brendan went, Big Poppa?” he asks PK, hoping his indulging into P.K.’s gangster needs would result in him getting the answer he needed quicker. “See, Beaulieu, not that hard! Yeah, actually, the new PR guy called him for something. Just said it was important and they needed him alone.”

Setting the bags at the normal spot, Alex starts toward the conference room and is halfway down the hallway before he hears yelling. Familiar voices, one trying to quieten the other, the other not having any of it. “WE are a package deal. No one without the other,” a pause, “No, I don’t give a shit if that’s how business works. Do you honestly think you can convince me to let you do this? You can’t. You’ll have to go through me first.”  
A slammed door and Alex remembers that he’s been eavesdropping and almost decides to hide behind a vending machine before suddenly recognizing the voice that was yelling. Brendan comes around the corner, face red and mouth dry. Alex just wants to hug him and asks what’s wrong, but he knows better. “Get our stuff, we’re leaving,” he says simply.  
“Bren, we have skate-”  
“CAN YOU PLEASE JUST GET THE GODDAMN BAGS, ALEX? Fuck it, I’ll get them. I’m leaving in three minutes. Either you’re in the car or you’re not.”  
And he storms off.

Three minutes later, Alex gets in the passenger seat, “It was really great for Max to check on us and make sure everything was okay since we’re missing morning skate, and I can’t tell him shit. What’s wrong, Bren?”  
“We’re going home and we’re going to lie in bed. We will not leave each other’s sides today. Or ever.”  
He shuts the radio off to drive in silent rage, the way he always does when something awful has happened.

It’s always anger first. He always gets mad, and that’s how he punches a hole in the wall next to their entryway mirror, “BRENDAN, WHAT THE FUCK?”  
His hand’s already bruising, but he holds Alex’s hand anyway. 

They’d been in bed for about 30 minutes, still in jeans and t-shirts, Brendan’s head on Chucky’s chest, not blinking or breathing in regular rhythms. His breath is shaky and Brendan’s shaking and god, Alex just wishes he would tell him what’s wrong. If he knew, he could comfort him, tell him it’ll be okay, but for now, he wraps both arms around Brendan and presses his lips to his lover’s forehead. He finally closes his eyes and lets his world go dark around him. He punches shit and sleeps, and that’s how Brendan sleeps for nearly 13 hours before Alex gets nervous and wakes him up to make sure he’s still with him.

Finally, at half past midnight, Brendan speaks again, “We should get married.”  
Alex can only stare at him and hope that he’s just sleep-talking, “We’re... We’re not even out of the closet, babe.”  
Brendan looks at him with tear-filled eyes, finally getting to step 3: crying. Brendan latches onto Alex in their hallway and immediately lets it go. Every single tear in Brendan’s body falls onto Alex’s shoulder and neck, and Alex can only try not to cry himself. What had hurt him so badly? What went on in that conference room?  
“They want to take you away from me, Alexander Galchenyuk, and I won’t let them. I can’t let them.”

“Hey,” Alex whispers into Brendan’s hair, rubbing his hand down Gally’s back, stopping to hold him in the small of his back, “What are you talking about, babe?”  
“There are rumors of some cuts on the roster. You could get cut, and I couldn’t fucking live with that, Chucky. They can’t separate us like this.”  
“Brendan, babe,” Alex kisses his boyfriend’s head before pressing his forehead against Brendan’s, “I’m not going anywhere. We’ll call tomorrow and tell them, okay?”  
“What can we do to keep this from happening? We can’t fix anything. They won’t listen to us.”  
“We are the Gally’s, babe. Together or not at all.”


End file.
